Tech Leaders Promote Near‑Term Superintelligence

Prominent executives such as Mark Zuckerberg, Dario Amodei and Sam Altman have publicly suggested that the development of superintelligent AI could happen soon, describing future systems as potentially surpassing Nobel‑level expertise across many fields.

LLMs Are Primarily Language Tools

Multiple analysts note that today’s most visible AI products—OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Google’s Gemini and Meta’s upcoming AI offering—are all large language models. These systems rely on massive linguistic datasets, identify statistical correlations between tokens, and generate text predictions. The core function is therefore language generation, not independent reasoning.

Human Thought Extends Beyond Language

Research cited by the article stresses that human cognition operates in brain networks distinct from language areas, and individuals with severe language impairments can still perform complex reasoning, solve math problems and understand others’ motivations. This evidence suggests that language is a communication tool rather than the source of thought.

Growing Skepticism Among AI Researchers

Renowned AI scientists such as Yann LeCun have left major tech firms to pursue “world models” that aim to understand physical reality, retain memory, reason, and plan actions. A coalition including Yoshua Bengio, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and AI critic Gary Marcus has defined AGI as the ability to match or exceed the cognitive versatility of a well‑educated adult, emphasizing that scaling language models alone will not achieve this goal.

Limitations of Scaling Alone

Experts argue that merely increasing data and compute does not address the architectural gaps needed for general intelligence. They point out that human knowledge includes non‑linguistic skills—such as riding a bike—that cannot be captured through text alone. The article warns that without new approaches, AI may remain a “dead‑metaphor machine,” remixing existing knowledge without making genuine scientific or creative leaps.

Calls for a Broader Approach

The piece concludes that building truly transformative AI will require integrating diverse cognitive abilities, persistent memory, and world understanding, moving beyond the current focus on language‑only models. It underscores the importance of interdisciplinary research to bridge the gap between impressive narrow AI performance and the broader, adaptable intelligence envisioned by many technologists.

Used: News Factory APP - news discovery and automation - ChatGPT for Business